1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a circuit board mount for mounting/connecting a circuit board or a CPU module to a main computer board and in particular to a collapsible circuit board mount which reduces the space occupied thereby at a stowed position.
2. The Prior Art
A connection device is commonly used to mount and connect a circuit board or an electronic component to a main computer board. Taking a central processing unit (CPU) of a computer as an example, the CPU is conventionally fixed to the main board by being directly soldered thereto. Nowadays, however, the CPU is first fixed to a circuit board to form a CPU module which is then mounted to the main board by means of a connection device. This helps to reduce the occupied space on the main board. The circuit board that is mounted to the main board by means of the connection device must be firmly supported by support means otherwise the circuit board that is usually perpendicular to the main board may shake or vibrate. Thus, a poor connection between the circuit board and the connection device may result thereby causing malfunction of the computer or the parts thereof.
Support means directly fixed on the connection device as a unitary member for retaining the circuit board on the connection device is disclosed in Taiwan Patent Application Nos. 85216861, 85216815, 85215723 and 85216150 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,390, 4,057,879, 5,207,598, 5,259,793 and 5,429,523, while in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,825,037 and 3,829,741, support means that is separate from and additionally mounted to the connection device to support the circuit board is disclosed. Both types of support means have a common disadvantage that the support means constitutes an elongate support arm member that is generally not movable or collapsible with respect to the connection device thereby occupying a significant amount of space which is inconvenient for packing and transportation of the connection device.
In addition, the connection device of this type is usually mounted to the main board with fixing means having a complicated structure which makes manufacture laborious thereby increasing costs.
It is thus desirable to have a collapsible circuit board mount for connecting and mounting a circuit board to a main computer board that overcomes the problems encountered in the prior art.